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How to Leverage LinkedIn
Social Media is everywhere. Advertisers are trying to figure out how to use it to target their audience and social media sites themselves are trying to figure out how to monetize their services. What does this mean for us??? Well, in the case of LinkedIn, it means there are a plethora of tools we can utilize to: 1) Broaden our professional network 2) Communicate on a professional platform free from the typical family photos, events and other personal life functions that are prevelent on most social sites 3) Find a career or post an opening Getting Started We are going to operate under the assumption that you have a LinkedIn profile setup, even if it is not fully developed. If you do not have your basic profile set up, try watching a YouTube video on the basics are. The video posted above has some more advanced techniques. Helpful Hints Some of these are basic and others are quite advanced. Try some of these out and remember to 1) experiment until you're happy with your profile and 2) always proofread your edits! #Start with a profile picture (professional attire). FSU offers free LinkedIn photos at all job fairs #Include a summary in your profile. Explain who you are and what you're doing (job search, networking, etc). Be sure to include your email address in the summary #Remember your profile is KEYWORD SENSITIVE. There is a section called "Jobs you may be interested in". This is pulled from a keyword search of your profile matched to a keyword search of job postings. Use this to your advantage. If the jobs listed for you are not of interest, then your profile likely does not match those descriptions, meaning recruiters likely will not find you. We recommend that you read some job descriptions of jobs you like, pull some keywords from there and add them to your profile. Repeat this process until you are being recomended jobs that match your desired list. #Get referrals! In order to do this, you need a broad network. So step 1 is to make many connections. Remember that LinkedIn is not Facebook - you do not need to be friends with someone to connect. Connect with your coworkers (past and present), colleagues, professors, anyone you meet who might be a valuable contact. Step 2 is to ask some of these people to write a recommendation for you. Try to diversify. Ask a fellow student, 1-2 professors, and some supervisors. These recommendations are powerful and recruiters read them instead of asking for a references page. #"Follow" strategically. What does this mean? You can "follow" companies and organizations that are of interest to you. At a minimum, you should follow all the companies you are interested in working for. A recruiter can see who you follow - that's a good first step. You should also follow industries. For example, if you apply for a finance position but all the companies you follow are marketing companies, it might confuse a recruiter as to your focus.